Improvement in barbers  chairs



. O. P. PFLUEGN'ER.

Barbers Chair.

'No. 196,381. Patented Oct. 23, I877.

v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OTTO F. PFLUEGNER, OF GIIIOAGO, ILLINOIS.

lM PROVEMENT IN BARBERS CHAIRS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 196,381, dated October 23, 1877 application filed March (i, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OTTo F. PFLUEGNER, of Chicago, Cook county, State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Barbers Chairs, of which the following is a full description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section taken a little to one side of the center. Fig. 2 is a detail, being a rear view of the parts therein shown.

My improvement is primarily designed to be applied to a barbers chair, but can be used with chairs made for other purposes.

It is customary to so make the upper part or seat and back of a barbers chair that the same can be adjusted at any desired angle; but the chairs have hitherto been so constructed that, having been tipped back, it is necessary for the operator to release some device before the seat could be again brought back to its former position.

The objects of my invention are to so construct such chairs that the operator can easily tip the upper portion back, and so that the seat will return to its former position when the occupant sits upright therein without the aid of the operator, and by the change of the center of gravity only.

These objects I accomplish by hinging'the seat of chair at or near the center, and on each side to the frame which supports the legs, and by the use of a ratchet and p. wl, as more fully hereinafter described.

In the drawings, a represents the seat, I) the back, and c the arm, of a chair; 0 (1, part of the frame and legs on which the seat is supported. The seat is hinged on each side to the bars 0, which can conveniently be done by means of a rod, f, secured in the bars 6, and angle-irons g, secured to the under side of the seat a, and provided with holes to receive the rod. h is a ratchet-bar, hinged at 13 to the rear of the seat a. This bar passes through a socket provided for it in or upon the cross-bar k. m is a pawl to engage with the teeth on the bar h. It has an extension, n, which comes down nearly to the floor, by means of which the pawl can be released from the teeth. The pawl and its eX- tension n form a continuous piece, which is hinged to the bar It at r, or to aplate, v, on this bar. 8 is a spring, which holds the pawl in contact with the ratchet-bar.

' In use, the operator can release the pawl by using his foot against n, and can then adjust the seat by tipping it back, as may be desired, and while the occupant remains leaning against the back the parts will remain in the adjusted position; but when the occupant raises his body and sits erect in the chair, the center of gravity will be brought forward, and the seat will rock forward upon the hinges, in conse quence of the change of position of the occupant, and without any assistance of the operator or otherwise.

A stop, 1?, may be placed upon h to limit its downward movement.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

In combination with a base-frame and a hinged seat, the ratchet'bar h, pawl m, provided with the extension n, and the spring 8, constructed and arranged as described, whereby the seat can be tipped forward by.the movement of the occupant of the chair, as set forth.

OTTO F. PFLUEGNER.

Witnesses E. A WEST, O. W. BOND. 

